A few words, photos, random thoughts shared with my family and friends. If anything you see here makes you laugh or touches you in some way, please leave a comment or send me an email so I know you are out there.

And climb the stairs to the beach...

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

In the Christian calendar, Shrove Tuesday is the English name for the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which in turn marks the beginning of Lent. In many solidly Roman Catholic countries in Europe and the Americas, this is the last day of Carnival. In some historically Francophone places it is Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday; the most famous Shrove Tuesday celebration is the Brazilian Carnival.It is also known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday in Britain, Ireland, Australia, and Canada.

The origin of the name Shrove lies in the archaic English verb "to shrive" which means to absolve people of their sins. It was common in the Middle Ages for "shriveners" (priests) to hear people's confessions at this time, to prepare them for Lent.

In Ireland, Australia, and Canada, Shrove Tuesday is known as Pancake Tuesday, while in Britain it is popularly known as Pancake Day. In both regions the traditional pancake is a very thin one (like a French crêpe) which is served immediately sprinkled with caster sugar (superfine or powdered sugar in the United States) and a dash of fresh lemon juice or alternatively drizzled with Golden syrup.

Pancakes are eaten to use up milk and eggs, which are not eaten during Lent, and thus would otherwise spoil during this period. Pancakes first appeared in English cookbooks in the 15th century. In Britain and Ireland in particular, a number of traditions have grown up around the eating of pancakes. Some people in Britain know the day only by the name "Pancake Day" and some are even unaware of the day's connection to Lent.

Monday, February 27, 2006

I googled images with the word "cold" this morning. Because it is Frigid here today, and these are some of the pictures that came up. Just as February is ending, wouldn't you think we would see some warming of the atmosphere? No, not a chance. Just have to keep the faith that spring is on its way...some day.

Blue seems to be the color that artists use to represent 'cold'. I suppose that is the color one turns, but when I think of really cold, I think grey and white.

I love how the artist has the subject of his painting bowing his head against the wind. Even the horses are bowing. It really makes me want to pull my collar up around my chin.

This picture reminds me of one that was in one of my picture books when I was little. The trainyard seemed cold in that picture, too. I wonder what it is about train yards?

This is how my street looked on Saturday. I hunkered down for the day. Nothing like warm flannel on a day like that.

I have a feeling this little boy might not want to go home, for some reason. Maybe he stayed outside sledding too long and is late for supper. Or maybe home isn't a happy place. Whatever the reason, I know he'd love a cup of hot chocolate.

I think parts of the midwest must be the coldest place in the country during the winter. Bleakest.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Newlyweds become oldyweds, and oldyweds are the reasons that families work. ~Author Unknown

What a happy and holy fashion it is that those who love one another should rest on the same pillow. ~Nathaniel HawthorneThe bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly. ~Peter De Vries

I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. ~Rita Rudner

Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can't sleep with the window open. ~George Bernard ShawChains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. ~Simone Signoret

Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate. ~Barnett R. Brickner

Thursday, February 23, 2006

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations. Anais Nin

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been. Madeleine L'Engle

Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else.Ogden Nash

Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle.Bob Hope

How pleasant is the day when we give up striving to be young -- or slender.William James

Almost all my middle-aged and elderly acquaintances, including me, feel about 25, unless we haven't had our coffee, in which case we feel 107.Martha Beck

At sixteen I was stupid, confused and indecisive. At twenty-five I was wise, self-confident, prepossessing and assertive. At forty-five I am stupid, confused, insecure and indecisive.Who would have supposed that maturity is only a short break in adolescence?Jules Feiffer

To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is to triumph over old age. Amos Bronson Alcott

Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to youIf you’re young at heartFor it’s hard, you will find, to be narrow of mindIf you’re young at heart

You can go to extremes with impossible schemesYou can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seamsAnd life gets more exciting with each passing dayAnd love is either in your heart or on it’s way

Don’t you know that it’s worth every treasure on earthTo be young at heartFor as rich as you are it’s much better by farTo be young at heart

And if you should survive to 105Look at all you’ll derive out of being aliveThen here is the best partYou have a head startIf you are among the very young at heart

Artist: Frank Sinatra/Perry ComoWords by Carolyn Leigh and Music by Johnny Richards

Sunday, February 12, 2006

I made a new discovery, thanks to Kathy and George Watson, (Ed's sister and brother-in-law who are also my friends and soon to be my sister-in-law and brother-in-law).There is a tool in Google for maps that shows you maps with aerial views with such detail, I actually can see an aerial picture of my house at 12 vinal street. You can even see that my grass isn't as healthy looking as my neighbors'. Although I think it is zeroing in on my neighbor, I can still find my house.

If you link to this page, I am the 3rd house on Vinal south of Welsh Street. These must be maps from a GIS database, but I think it is fascinating. You can see trees and bodies of water and even find MALLS and buildings and all sorts of things! It is so much fun.

To get to this useful tool, go to http://local.google.com/. You will see a map of the United States. Then click on the word HYBRID. Then put in your addresses in the find box or click on Get Directions. If you get directions, you will see a route and you can hold down your left mouse key and move along the route by moving the map under the curser. Or on any spot on any map, you can hold down the left mouse button an move the map around. Then you can zoom in along the way and see incredible detail of your route.I found where I work, too! I just love this. I hope you will too. Amazing what gets me excited, isn't it? Some places that are remote might not give you an aerial of your home. Like Cindy's house is not shown, but her woods are. And I found Chuck's house in Dennisport, although the detail isnt quite as good as it is for mine. When there are trees it is harder to see and some areas haven't had updated pictures taken yet of specific neighborhoods.

I found Sue's place in Batavia,(Miss you, friend.) Having never been there I am not sure which building she lives in.

I found Marilyn and Denny's house on Martha's Vineyard at Hines Point Vineyard Haven. Can you believe the detail? You can even see her kitchen!

I found Kathy's house and the trailer park on the Cape and her other home in Kissimee on BunnyHop Ave or is it Carrot Top St. (just kidding) . Imagine my surprise when I found that they took the satellite photo when I was actually there. What a coincidence! They got a nice shot of George and Allison right in their living room.

As I continue looking in the site, I see John's house in Hixson, TN; Ed's house in East Ridge and the many spots in Chattanooga I will be exploring soon.

I see Mom's house quite clearly in St. Pete. I see Dad and Inez in Naples.I can even see where we are going to spend our honeymoon, but I won't divulge that informaton.

I see Becky's place in Stow and I think I can even see her car. I see Cuz Liz in San Luis Obispo. I see Melinda and George and Linda and Frank. I see our Franklin friends and all my DooBees out there.

I feel like the teacher on Romper Room with her magic mirror!

Anyway, have fun with it and remember as I spend my last few months in Massachusetts, maps can be useful when you all come to see me in Chattanooga!But they do have planes, too!

Love,Suz

PS. For those of my friends and loved ones who are gullible, and you know who you are, they really didn't take pictures of our living rooms. But I bet they can!PPS. Speaking of 1950s TV shows...I learned this week that Rex Trailer is recuperating in a rehab in Sudbury after a fall. He is doing well and should soon go home. Good Old Boomtown! For those of you who didn't grow up in MAssachusetts you won't know who I am talking about.

But he was a local TV Icon when TV was in its infancy. He was a personal friend and fellow Kiwanian of Dad's and was a frequent visitor at Sudbury Drug for breakfast back in the Day. I learned that he is still sharp as a tack, charming and remembers everyone, including my sister Cindy who as a little girl used to go horseback riding with Rex and his daughter. Come to find out Rex's sister, Lorraine, was in Ed's class in school and Kathy knew him from the Cape somehow, too. Talk about 6 degrees of separation! Good Luck and best wishes to Rex.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Please indulge me this morning, if you would. I have, since a sophomore in high school, been haunted by this quote first uttered to me by my history teacher:

"Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."

Haunted, pardon the pun, among other reasons because I have spent my work-life in careers whose watchword is consistency: Insurance and accounting. So, whenever someone quoted it, (or spat it at me in frustration) I never had a good comeback. In my business, you can't change the rules on a whim or because it just "feels right".

Yesterday, a coworker who was deep into the process of editing the 80+ page Warrant for our upcoming annual town meeting muttered this quote while chuckling. He had to correct something I had written that on one page contained the word(s) 'town wide' spelled in 3 different ways: Townwide, Town-wide and town wide. And so, although his was the task to get everything consistent througout the publication, he was the one who brought up the quote. Undoubtedly the quote bothered him, too, because he knew there are times when you have to be consistent...no matter the size of one's mind. And so I looked it up.

Ralph

As it happens, like so many things, this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson has always been misquoted and taken out of context. This soundbite came from an essay on Self reliance. The entire paragraph is:

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."

People always leave the word "foolish" off this quote. I don't think we know what Emerson considered foolish or wise consistencies. One writer says that you need to know that Emerson changed his mind about slavery and abolitionism and other topical and controversial issues of the time quite often. He was probably explaining these contradictions and defending his right to change his mind. He believed, according to what I have read, that we should trust our instincts and because he believed that "man" is inherently good I think that worked for him. I rather like the metaphor in the paragraph preceeding the hobgoblin part in which he says:

"Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict some what you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day. In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity: yet when the devout motions of the soul come, yield to them heart and life, though they should clothe God with shape and color. Leave your theory, as Joseph his coat in the hand of the harlot, and flee."(I have said it before, I do love Emerson.)

I bet most of you just got through the first 2 sentences of today's blog and zoned out. If you got this far perhaps you have already dozed off. It is pretty dry and a bit heavy for this time of the day or, for that matter, whatever time of the day you might be reading this. I actually read most of Emerson's essay this morning and I am still awake. But, I don't blame you if you are taking a nap. Below is another angle on CONSISTENCY!

But for those of you who REALLY know me, my own perspective on consistency has mostly to do with food and how it feels in my mouth. Who really cares what Emerson thought at this hour, anyway?

I would be inconsistent indeed if I didn't mention the more physical aspect of consistency. I have consistently rejected certain foods of certain consistencies, choosing smooth uninterupted puddings over the offputting inconsistency of things crunchy and green hidden in otherwise pleasingly soft environs.And how I dislike the inconsistency of the seedless green grape with its smooth lovely skin deceptively inviting one to bite through that cool exterior only to be met with an unpleasant crunch before reaching the soft cool center. Having to go through one consistency to get to the other is a cruel trick on ones mouth. Ah, but who knows? Perhaps tomorrow my tongue shall turn and I may find myself eschewing the soft, warm weighty consistency of macaroni and cheese

for the tickly, whisp of the alfalfa sprout...NOT!

Have a great day and be as consistent as you want to be. I already know none of you have little minds!